When
Yosef’s brothers came to Egypt to purchase food during the years of famine,
he was able to recognize them immediately, but after 22 years of separation,
they were unable to identify him. As a result, he was able to subject them
to a dramatic and frightening series of events. After accusing them of being
spies, he incarcerated Shimon to force them to return with his maternal
brother Binyomin. After confusing them by inviting them to join with him at
a banquet, Yosef had his goblet planted in Binyomin’s sack to frame him for
stealing.

Finally,
when Yehuda pleaded for mercy, explaining how much their father Yaakov would
suffer if they failed to return with his beloved Binyomin, Yosef was unable
to hold himself back anymore. He ordered all of his Egyptian officers and
servants out of the room and revealed his true identity to his brothers,
telling them, “I am Yosef. Is my father still alive?”

The
Medrash understands (Bereishis Rabbah 93:10) Yosef’s words not as a factual
question, but rather as an implicit rebuke of his brothers. The Medrash
derives from their inability to answer him a lesson regarding how great our
shame and embarrassment will be when Hashem Himself rebukes us in His
Heavenly Court. However, many commentators struggle to understand exactly
where the censure lies in Yosef’s words, which on the surface appear to be a
simple question about his father’s welfare.

The Beis
HaLevi explains that Yehuda had been begging for mercy on behalf of Binyomin
as a result of the unfathomable suffering that his imprisonment would cause
to their father Yaakov. Yosef therefore subtly reminded his brothers of
their utter lack of concern for Yaakov’s well-being when they sold him as a
slave, thereby demonstrating the contradiction in their actions and
calculations, an argument to which they had no answer.

The
following amusing story represents a modern-day application of this concept.
There was once a yeshiva student who was scheduled to fly home to visit his
family. A few hours after setting out for the airport, he returned to the
yeshiva. He explained to his confused Rosh Yeshiva that he had arrived late
to the airport and missed his flight, to which the Rosh Yeshiva happily
exclaimed, “Boruch Hashem!” Now it was the boy’s turn to be confused.

The Rosh
Yeshiva explained that every day the boy came late to prayers, to his
studies, and to class. He worried that when the boy would eventually pass
away he would be asked about his tardiness, to which he would answer that he
simply had a difficult time with punctuality. At that point he would be
shown that when something was important to him, such as making a flight
home, he had no problem arriving on time, and his defense would be
contradicted and rejected. Now, however, the Rosh Yeshiva rejoiced, because
the boy also arrived late to the airport, and while his attendance record in
yeshiva was far from exemplary, at least his defense would remain intact.

There
will also come a time when Hashem will similarly judge us. We think that
when we are asked why we didn’t give more charity or spend more time
studying Torah, we will defend ourselves by invoking our lack of extra funds
and free time. Hashem will then remind us of all of the frivolous luxuries
for which we had no difficulty finding money, and of all of the thousands of
hours we wasted over the course of our lives involved in trivial nonsense,
which will leave us speechless and humiliated to the core.

The
lesson of Yosef’s rebuke of his brothers is that we should make sure to
expend at least as much effort on our spiritual affairs as we do on physical
matters. The same efforts that we make in trying to maximize the return on
our investments or planning a trip in great detail to maximize our enjoyment
should also carry over to matters of the soul, as we devote the same energy
to our efforts at improving the returns on our spiritual portfolio and to
getting the most out of the journey to this world on which our souls have
been sent.

After
Yosef revealed his true identity to his brothers, he and Binyomin fell upon
each other’s necks and wept. Rashi explains that they were mourning the Holy
Temples and Mishkan which would be built in the portions of Israel to be
inherited by their descendants which would eventually be destroyed.

There was
once an old woman who passed away. In her will, she left instructions to
split her estate equally among her grandchildren, except for an additional
$10,000 which was to be given to one of her granddaughters on top of her
regular portion.

The
reason for this preferential treatment was that later in life, the
grandmother decided to open up and share with her family her bitter personal
story of the travails she endured in surviving the Holocaust. In contrast to
the rest of the grandchildren who sat stoically listening, this particular
granddaughter cried profusely at the tales of her grandmother’s tortuous
pain and suffering. In recognition of her compassion and empathy, the
grandmother allotted her more than all of the others.

Rav
Yitzchok Zilberstein derives from here that if a flesh-and-blood grandmother
gives additional money as a reflection of the special bond that she feels
with the granddaughter who cried upon hearing of her suffering, how much
more will Hashem feel connected to us for every tear that we shed over His
pain at the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, and how much unfathomable
reward will we receive.

Although
the literal meaning of Yosef’s words to the Egyptians is “Behold, here is
seed for you; sow the land,” the Arizal suggests that Yosef was hinting to a
different kind of seed – children. In a play on words, he writes that the
reason why the Patriarchs and Matriarchs were barren was because they didn’t
have the letter “hay” in their names, which alludes to “herayon”
(pregnancy).

Avrom and
Sarai were unable to have children as both of their names lacked a “hay.”
Hashem added a “hay” to each of their names, turning them into Avrohom and
Sorah, who were then able to conceive Yitzchok. Yitzchok also had a
difficult time having children, as even though his wife Rivkah had a “hay”
in her name, he did not. This is also the reason why Yaakov was able to have
children from Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah, all of whom had “hay”s in their
names, as opposed to Rochel who had none and therefore was unable to
conceive. In an attempt to become pregnant, Rochel gave her maidservant
Bilhah to Yaakov, as she hoped that by doing so, she would merit one of the
two “hay”s in Bilhah’s name.

Answers to
the weekly Points to Ponder are now available!
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Parsha Points to Ponder
(and sources which discuss them):

1)The Medrash teaches (Yalkut Shimoni 151) that Yosef
died 10 years prematurely as a punishment for the 10 times that he heard his
brothers refer to their father Yaakov as “avadecha” (your servant) and
remained silent without correcting them. As the verses which record the
conversation mention that they did so only 5 times (43:28, 44:24, 44:27,
44:30, and 44:31), why was Yosef’s punishment doubled? (Peninim MiShulchan
HaGra Parshas Mikeitz)

2)Just prior to sending his brothers back to Yaakov in
Canaan, Yosef warned them (45:24) not to become agitated on the journey.
According to one of Rashi’s explanations, Yosef was advising them not to
travel too quickly by taking large steps, as the Gemora in Taanis (10b)
teaches that doing so causes a person to lose 1/500th of his
eyesight. What can a person who has done so do as a remedy in order to
restore his lost vision? (Rashi Shabbos 113b, Tosefos Pesachim 100b, Mishnah
Berurah 271:48)

3)Rashi writes (46:15) that Levi’s daughter Yocheved
was born as Yaakov and his entire family entered Egypt. According to this
explanation, she was 130 at the time of Moshe’s birth. Why is no mention
made of the miraculous birth of Moshe to such an aged mother as was the case
with the birth of Yitzchok to the 90-year-old Sorah? (Ibn Ezra, Ramban)

5)Rashi writes (47:6) that Pharaoh told Yosef that if
any of his brothers are capable, he would like them to serve as shepherds
for his flock. How can this be reconciled with Rashi’s earlier comment
(46:34) that because Egyptians worshipped sheep, they hated shepherds and
would insist that because the brothers were shepherds they must live
separately? (Moshav Z’keinim 46:34, Ibn Ezra, Maskil L’Dovid)